Well good morning newlife, and welcome to the back-to-school week as I like to call it. Man, I saw so many photos on Facebook on the first day, first day at school, first day at work, a lot of firsts has happened already in just the first couple of days, some of you are wishing for the first salary in 2025, yeah you know it.
So, as we in the series that we are looking at the psalms, and it got me thinking about a lot of my firsts, and how we like tackle this thing called life. I mean look at us. First is your birth, then first birthday, first easter, first Christmas, first bike ride, first school, first date, first kiss, first day of work, first car, and first house. Yes, the list can carry on, but it seems all the firsts leads us to build a house. You know we study; we work we live to have a house with a family. It is built into us, to somehow belong, that the end goal, is this and I am not a big fan of this Word, and it is this, our goal is to “Settle down”. I mean what does this even mean? Well, the internet will make you believe that it means this: to become calm or quiet, or to make someone become calm or quiet. And the reason that I laugh at this, is cause any of you who had children, how was getting ready for day 1 look like for you? Or better how did stationary shopping go?
Now in all this, I really needed to reflect. And I was wondering, do we not do the same in our lives, that we tend to become quiet, like quiet about what is right, quiet about our values because it is old school and not modern, did we become to calm with our children spiritual future. And it got me to what I want to look at and there is a psalm about this: And the psalm I want to look at is the following: Psalms 127: AMP
Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. [Ps 121:1, 3, 5] 2It is vain for you to rise early, To retire late, To eat the bread of anxious labors— For He gives [blessings] to His beloved even in his sleep. 3¶Behold, children are a heritage and gift from the Lord, The fruit of the womb a reward. [Deut 28:4] 4Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. 5How blessed [happy and fortunate] is the man whose quiver is filled with them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies [in gatherings] at the [city] gate.
Man, and I was like what a verse, and there are so many things we can take from it. And it made me realize, that God never wanted us to build a house for our families but to build a home, you see we are so focused to build a house for our family, that we tend to forget or we “settle down” in creating a home. So, I want to break it down and verse by verse for you all.
So, the question I want to look at and what I want to ask of everyone is this? What does it mean to build a home that honurs God. Do we only look at the food, resources because this is where the world is going at, success. Or is it something deeper. Is there more to life than just creating a comfortable life, because let us be honest. There are many people in this room that had comfortable lives and the world came, and epidemics came, and retrenchments came, and all of that seemed in danger. I believe created a false sense of security of when you built a house for your family, you good the legacy is good, and there is the lie, because we can have all this and still be empty.
You know there is this funny story it is better to cry in a Porsche than in a Kia Picanto. It seems funny but we believe this to be true, but I have spoken to many people, and you can have lots of stuff, but still empty. You could have built a house, but it is still empty.
So, I want you as we start to ask how is my spiritual house looking, I want those who are married those with children those who are thinking to build a life together, single all of you to ask how would you built a spiritual home, how would you do it? And I want to give you this building plan, I want to give you some biblical building plans that does not need spluma to be approved, I want to unpack this with you.
The first part of course would be the foundation. Ask anyone in building, if the foundation is not correct, the house will collapse, the building will collapse, so we need a foundation and more so we need a cornerstone, now what is a cornerstone well: the first stone laid during the construction of a building's foundation, essentially marking the starting point and determining the alignment of the entire structure; it's considered the most important stone in the foundation,
And in a Godly home in building a home we have that cornerstone being Jesus 'having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the [chief] Cornerstone, '
Ephesians 2:20
So, in our building plan we need Jesus as the stone, the cornerstone, everything our Godly home, everything must be aligned to Jesus, to the Word, and when you understand that, and follow this, it means that you are ready to build the rest of the foundation. The bible makes it clear for us: Psalm127:1-2 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
This phrase “in vain” is repeated to emphasise we cannot do it in our strength, It is useless, it is futile, it means that without God, you will not be able to build a Godly home, a home that serves Him, a home that there is real Godly Values, You know I want to share this again, my Dad worked for 65 years on the power stations, he actually helped Duvha back in the day. I do not blame him because our world builds a house culture “settle down” mentality makes us believe that men your only role is to produce resources for a stable household. He worked for 65 years. Worked hard many 7 to 7 evenings, weekends included, holidays, over Christmas man the whole shebang. And then when he turned 66 a year or so after his retirement, he passed away.
And I know then God said to me so clearly on the way to Ermelo when he passed, that this is not what he called us as people to do, that my Dad legacy will be to let people men and women know that yes work hard but in essence but do not neglect the spiritual aspects, to not miss the importance that God is the architect of this household, so we need to trust Him with the building of it. Who is designing your home, are you refer to the building plans regularly (prayer, fasting, bible study, gathering) or are you looking at them only once every other week and you hope you remember them. Man asks any builder how many times they refer to plans, not only once but a few times. Correct. We need to trust God and in this second part we need to trust He is our protector. I love that we as parents stand guard over our children, I love that we see a movement and a revival where parents are not allowing movements telling them how to raise their children, but I want to be honest, we sometimes stand guard by overworking, we worry constantly, and sometimes over protect our children, and preparation is good, but trusting in God is essential. And I know I am a dad, I want to protect my family, but I want to be honest, and it is tough with everything that is happening and influencing our children, I had to tell God you are in control. You know I have seen how this works, I never forced my kids to get baptized, or to join elevate or serve, yes, I do influence them with Godly words, and prayers etc. but God moved them to do this. This gives me peace knowing that I am just the earthly dad that is flawed, but they have a heavenly Father that is flawless.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart
And do not rely on your own insight or understanding.
6 In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him,
And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].
This verse describes it this how the foundation will look. This is how it will look for us when we lay the foundation, we trust we rely on we are confident, in God, recognize Him in every aspect and he will remove the obstacles.
2nd thing is when we build a home, we need to build a home that rests in God peace. Verse 2 says: It is vain for you to rise early, To retire late, To eat the bread of anxious labors— For He gives [blessings] to His beloved even in his sleep.
In our modern world, busyness is often seen as a virtue. People wake up early, stay up late, and sacrifice their health and relationships in pursuit of success. Yet the psalm warns that this striving is in vain if it’s done apart from God. The word for “toiling” (?????, amal) in afrikaans. Amal jy raak mal. No just kidding refers to burdensome, exhausting labor. I mean look at our lives, how much time we are at work, doing work, and someone we think it is ok to available 24 hours a day. That is a Godly expectation. Only God can do this and what did He do on the 7th day. Even God rested but somehow, we think we need to be available for people 24/7.
Can I be honest here, honest. As I Pastor I thought I needed to be there, and man I tried. Out every night, dropped everything at a drop of a hat, and you know what happened, well my marriage my covenant my first ministry and my relationship suffered. I thought I can be Jesus and save people, I am so thankful for Ryan and the eldership that put measures in place so that does not happen anymore, but I want to say the reason why I am saying this, is that you need in your own way need to trust and Rely on God and rest, create a home where there is rest. How does this look at your work, what did you allow to become the norm?
Create a home where you have Rest, where you have your family together to spend time in the word, to spend time around the table. I know there is some of you that work out of the country, but schedule that WhatsApp call, have dinner together, pray together, study the bible together. Trust that God will provide, and teach your home that rest is good, that it is from God, and you are not lazy.
When we look now at the Foundation, and we built it on Jesus, when we look at what is important, we also need to look at this
Psalms 127:3-5Behold, children are a heritage and gift from the Lord, The fruit of the womb a reward. [Deut 28:4] 4Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth. 5How blessed [happy and fortunate] is the man whose quiver is filled with them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies [in gatherings] at the [city] gate.
Legacy, in our homes we need to build a legacy
Children are the legacy of your home. When we build a Godly home, we need to know that Children are a blessing of the home, and they are your legacy. You see when you look at these verses, when we build a home, it must not be house, it is more spiritual and deeper as that? we build a home, and for those who are fortunate to have children, you need to see them as God sees them as a gift. Verses 3 to 5 does say that.
You see this word Heritage is nacalah and it means it is in an inheritance, it is a gift, it emphasizes that our children are entrusted, look at this word entrusted to us to (something) into someone's care or protection.
I love how this imagery of a quiver and arrows, some of has 1, some 2, some 3 and some of you really took this verse to heart and made your house full of arrows.
So, when arrows were created in the Old Testament times, it was a process, you need to create the shaft generally from wood, and use goose feathers as the tip, so you need to catch a goose and pluck feathers and then craft the tip with steel. It took several hours to a full day just to make a quiver of arrows. And that also depended how good the craftsmanship was.
So, it shows us the care we need to take, I do not know if any of you know in 2014 Bubba Watson won the Masters Golf Tournament for the second time in three years. The prestige of winning the coveted green jacket given to the tournament champion makes Watson one of the world’s premier golfers. How does Watson view himself? His self-description on Twitter reads simply, “Christian. Husband. Daddy. Pro Golfer.” After winning his second green jacket, Watson said, “Having my son means more to me than a green jacket.” His career took a dip between his first Masters win and his second, and he explained that part of the reason was the adoption of his son: “I had to be there for my son, so golf was the farthest thing from my mind. I took off some tournaments. Trying to be a good husband, a good dad, was the most important thing.”
Keeping our relationships with God and family highest of our priorities is a missing ingredient in many lives today. It is a lesson we can all learn.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says to us as parents: These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be [written] on your heart and mind. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths] and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.
It means that we need to nurture our children. We need to guide our children. We have this thing currently that the next gen z, gen alpha and gen beta. We see all this videos on it, and I want to ask us all do we see the next generation as a burden or a blessing, cause I tell you what the reason the next generation is doing what they are doing is that we never saw them as a blessing, we never nurture as much anymore, we do not spend time with our children as we need to, we live in a world where fathers are missing and we make jokes about baby momma, side chick, etc but we cannot just discard the next generation, it starts with us
Parents Pray Together: Pray with and for your children regularly. Teach them how to pray and help them understand the importance of dependence on God. Read the Bible: Create a routine of reading scripture as a family, discussing its meaning, and applying it to daily life. Model Faith: Children learn by imitation. Let them see you living out your faith through prayer, worship, and acts of kindness.
Spend intentional time with your children—playing, talking, and listening. This builds trust and opens the door for meaningful spiritual conversations. Create an environment where your children feel safe, loved, and valued, reflecting the unconditional love of God. Ephesians 6:4: "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." This verse highlights the balance between nurturing children with love and pointing them to God’s truth
Building a God-centered home requires intentionality.
Step 1: Lay the Foundation of Faith
Prioritize family worship, Bible reading, and prayer. Example: Share a story of how regular family devotions strengthened a home.
Step 2: Model Godly Living Children learn from what they see. Parents and guardians should demonstrate trust in God, love, forgiveness, and humility.
Quote: “Train up a child in the way he should go…” (Proverbs 22:6).
Step 3: Trust God with the Results Acknowledge that only God can bring lasting fruit from your efforts. Encourage parents to release anxiety about perfection and rest in God's sovereignty.
Ask the congregation to evaluate: Is God the builder of your home? If not, what steps will you take today to rebuild on His foundation? "A home built on God’s foundation will stand firm through the storms of life. Let Him be the builder, protector, and provider for your family."
